The future of ICE funding and reform

0:00WBUR Podcasts, Boston. It's hard to legislate change, right? But I think what's most important would be transparency. And I have seen some, I know some members of Congress have been pushing this, and I think it's probably the most critical piece of this. A partial government shutdown continues as lawmakers in Washington debate reforming the Department of Homeland Security.

0:33It's Monday, February 2nd, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston. I'm Shiko Theuri. Today on the show, immigration and customs enforcement agents are using tools like facial recognition software and cell phone tracking devices in their nationwide crackdown. What you need to know about how the government is using your data. And good news for all the shower singers out there. It's not just fun. It's healthy for you. It can strengthen the lungs and diaphragm, help with breath control and support, improves the immune system, and certainly it improves mood and reduces stress. But first, Congress has paused funding for the Department of Homeland Security so we can debate how much money to spend on immigration enforcement.

1:20Lawmakers in Washington are at odds over the department's immigration tactics that have killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota. Over the weekend, a federal judge in Texas weighed in on those immigration enforcement efforts and ordered the release of two Minnesota residents, five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father. The judge blamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, for a, quote, ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children. For more, we called John Sandweg. He was acting ICE director during the Obama administration and served as general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security.

2:02Here's his conversation with Scott Tong. ICE and Border Patrol are going into people's homes in the Twin Cities, even though in many cases they don't have warrants issued by judges. Instead, they use what are called administrative warrants. In the ruling in Liam's case, the federal judge compared this to a fox guarding the hen house. Are these warrants, in your view, legal? I don't think so, Scott. Look, the longstanding position of the department, this was never even anything that was really even questioned during my time at DHS and at ICE, that a judicial warrant is required in order to forcibly enter a home.

2:38I know the administration has come up with some rationale. Now, it doesn't make sense to me in terms of the justification for a warrantless entry. But, you know, and if you look at these administrative warrants, I mean, there's just a real limited amount of information that is required to fill one out. And you look at the Fourth Amendment's requirements, you know, that probable cause be articulated with specificity. I just I think ultimately some courts are going to find that this is an unlawful use of these administrators. In the meantime, though, I mean, do you anticipate, you know, given the agenda of the administration, that federal agents are going to keep doing this?

3:14You know, a lot of groups have gone out and educated the communities that ICE is generally required to have a judicial warrant before they forcibly enter the home. As a result of this, when these agents are going out and operating under these quotas that are putting them under tremendous pressure to make arrests, they don't want to, you know, they're being stymied, I guess I would say. As a result of that, you see the shift to this no warrants required. We'll see how long this holds up in the courts. But operationally, the temptation for the department, sure, is they want to be able to make these arrests as quickly as possible.

3:44And getting judicial warrants would really slow them down. Another legal question central to Liam's case in the Twin Cities is asylum claims. His family says they've been formally requesting asylum and that began under the previous the Biden administration. The White House says the family has no legal status. So can you explain this a little bit? Can this administration just discontinue an asylum policy from the previous administration? Well, Scott, I think this is a really important issue. And Liam's case obviously drew a lot of attention, but this is something that's happening across the country right now.

4:17The administration has been targeting individuals who entered the United States and made an asylum claim. And what's important for people to understand is these people are in deportation proceedings now. They are just not being detained. Under U.S. law, you cannot be deported until an immigration judge decides that you are not eligible for asylum. So what's happening, though, is because these courts are so overwhelmed, the individuals were given court dates. They are in deportation proceedings, but they are waiting for their court dates. And so Liam's case is one of these examples, but we've seen them across the country.

4:47You know, you've heard about these ICE arrests in immigration courts. That's the exact same thing. And what the administration has done is really a remarkable tactic, which is cancel their, dismiss their deportation case, and then take the individual into custody. Really, this is something that is not limited to Liam's case. It's happening across the country. Is the policy, is the law clear on this? As far as you know, if a family is seeking asylum, it doesn't have a right to be in this country as the case is working its way through the system. It's complicated, Scott, and I will tell you this.

5:22What the administration has done is they've said that everybody that Biden, what they determine is Biden led into the country. People who showed up at the border and the administration did not detain because they did not have beds available. but they issued what's called a parole to let them into the country while they pursued their asylum. The administration canceled those paroles very early on, sent letters to millions of people who had been paroled in the United States and said, you are no longer a parole. And their position is that makes you undocumented and therefore allows them to arrest you and hold you without bail.

5:53And no judge can even give you a bail hearing, even if you're a five-year-old child with your father who poses no threat to public safety. This is something that's being litigated. Most federal courts have found that the administration's interpretation, which is a major shift in how ICE has historically interpreted the mandatory detention laws, is itself unlawful. But of course, Scott, there's bigger policies, sitting on the legal for one second, policy questions of, hey, wait a minute, we're supposed to be going after the worst of the worst. Why are we targeting these asylum seekers, especially the ones who have not failed to appear in court, have not violated any of the court's orders, and have not yet been ordered deported to then leave the country.

6:31I think that is in many ways just as important a question as the legality of this is from a law enforcement perspective. What are we gaining from this? Yeah. John, briefly, as far as changes to this deportation effort, right now the Department of Homeland Security is not fully funded for the current fiscal year and Congress is starting to debate potential changes to how these federal agents do their work. In your view, what are the most important changes that need to be made? Well, it's hard. It's hard to legislate change. Right. But I think what's most important would be transparency. And I have seen some I know some members of Congress been pushing this.

7:05And I think it's probably the most critical piece of this is we're not seeing the data we normally see with ICE in terms of who is being arrested. What is their what is their criminal history, if any? What is their immigration status? Why were they targeted more than anything would be if Congress wants to do something that makes a difference would be mandate that transparency, mandate that ICE published data in real time about who's arrested. in what, if any, nexus they have to the criminal justice system. All right. John Sandwig served as acting ICE director in the Obama administration. John, thank you again.

7:36Yeah, thanks, Scott. Coming up next, ICE agents are using a number of tools in their deportation quests. We'll detail how you can protect your data from being surveilled by government agencies. Stay with us.

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8:37The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is relying on a bunch of different technology in their pursuit of undocumented immigrants in Minneapolis. Cell phone tracking devices, facial recognition software, spyware, and drones. But this technology isn't only being used to monitor the people ICE is targeting. It's also being used to track protesters and U.S. citizens. Caroline Haskins has been reporting on this for Wired. Here's her conversation with Scott. So as far as ICE and Border Patrol deciding who to stop and potentially arrest and detain, what are the most important technology tools, surveillance tools they have?

9:18I'd say if we're looking on the ground, they're using license plate readers that can track where a person has been going, you know, who the car obviously belongs to. They also have mobile apps for facial recognition, one in particular that was developed by NEC that allows them to compare against existing databases, particularly law enforcement that they have access to. There's also a relatively new tool developed by Palantir. It goes by the acronym ELITE. And that essentially allows them to create dossiers about particular individuals by name, pretty much on the spot, as well as draw perimeters and see the likelihood of either that person or their neighbors.

10:00See who would be likely to be in a particular area and a probability score that they could be in an area at a particular moment. Wow, probability score. And just to make sure I understand you, are the agents using these tools to decide not only who they stop and detain, but also to monitor the civilians, the protesters? So in the case of license plate readers, definitely, yes, they might be checking to see if a car appears to belong to a person. They could be checking to see if a car has been traveling in recent days. And in the case of the Elite app, federal agents have actually testified in court documents that they have actively used that app to decide whether to linger on a scene or whether to move on and essentially go to the next target.

10:48And how about phones? Are they using phone data to follow, track people's movements? Are they able to get into people's phones to look at who they're messaging, to look at social media data, all of that? So one thing to keep in mind, of course, is everything that goes on social media is something that like federal police and local law enforcement might be looking at to to track protesters, to track legal observers. But another risk is presented if you actually hand your phone over to federal agents or if they take it from you in some way. And this could be at a protest. This could be even at the airport because they have what's called mobile forensic technology.

11:30One offering in particular comes from a company called Cellbrite. And if your phone is unlocked, it essentially allows them to extract messages from different messaging apps. It allows investigators to see the different apps that are on a person's phone. It allows them to see the photos. It also allows them to conduct targeted searches and see, you know, let's say they want to see a picture of drugs. That's a law enforcement case, of course, but they could search for things like that. They could try and see the relationships that you have with different people that you're communicating with. So, of course, if you have your biometric unlock turned on on your phone, that could present a risk for your phone being unlocked and searched in this way.

12:11They could also ask for you to unlock your phone. But if you have, you know, previews turned off on your home screen and if you have just a manual password unlock, it is an option for you to refuse to unlock your phone for federal law enforcement. Caroline, this is a lot of digital and surveillance tools. Which of these tools are raising legal questions? To the best of our knowledge, the use of pretty much all of these tools is legal. They have to detail the use of these in federal disclosures. They have to detail all of the contract payments. However, that doesn't mean that it isn't incredibly intrusive and scary for people that are on the ground.

12:50So if people are concerned, there are certain digital hygiene tools that you can use. For instance, if you're at a protest and you don't want to be transmitting any sort of data from your device, you could either leave your phone at home. You could use something that's called a Faraday bag, which prevents signals from going out from your phone. Because even if it's turned off or in airplane mode, it isn't 100 % safe in that case. my co-workers at Wired have recommended using Signal, which is encrypted end-to-end. And even just on the screen of your device, there's a way to turn off the previews for incoming messages that essentially displays the content of the message.

13:31So even if your phone remains locked, there is information that law enforcement can technically glean just from looking at your lock screen. So turning off those previews is another way to protect yourself if that's something that observers or protesters are worried about. We've been talking to Caroline Haskins, business reporter for Wired. Caroline, thank you very much. Thanks for having me on.

13:58Coming up, have you had a moment to sing today? Well, you should take one because it's actually pretty good for you. Learn why after the break.

14:17All right, all my shower singers to the front. There's good news for us and for those of you who may prefer a good car karaoke session. Turns out there is evidence that even the most off-key of us can benefit from singing. It can lower stress and blood pressure, give us more oxygen, and boost our immune system. Eleanor Harrison wrote about it in The Conversation. She's a lecturer in dance at Washington University in St. Louis and joins Scott to talk about it. So let's go to the evidence here. You study neuroscience, have a Ph.D. in movement science. When we sing together, chant together physically, are there measurable benefits?

14:59There truly are. There have been several studies. There's a lot of research to show that singing either alone or in groups is beneficial to your health. You already mentioned a couple of those benefits, but singing also is a very physical activity. It can be thought of as light exercise. It engages the whole body. It can be done even seated. So it's very accessible to everyone. And it has a whole host of health benefits. It can strengthen the lungs and diaphragm, help with breath control and support. It also, as you mentioned, increases oxygen to the blood, so it improves vascular health, it improves the immune system, and certainly it improves mood and reduces stress.

15:42When you were singing together, it promotes feelings of connection, it helps us bond. And in these times when we tend to be so isolated on our cell phones, I think that's really important. And when people sing in unison, there is evidence to suggest that they synchronize their breaths and their heart rates follow suit. Our heart rate variability, which is our ability to adapt to stress, that improves when we're singing with others as well. You in particular have studied Parkinson's patients. And first off, I'm curious, if you work directly with patients, did you play a certain song or two as you were trying to measure or see if it would improve their physical walking?

16:25Yes. So the song I used for all of my initial gait studies was Row, Row, Row Your Boat. And the reason we used that song is that we were asking people to walk and sing at the same time. And we wanted it to be a simple task that didn't require too much thought. So we wanted a song that everybody knew the lyrics to. And I've tested hundreds of people and I have yet to find anyone who does not know the lyrics to row, row, row your boat. It's obviously a kid's song, so people know it from their childhood. Do you find that in many cases, even if they have trouble getting out sentences, they can sing and they can sing lyrics?

17:05Absolutely. Those lyrics are so well known that people can sing them. What have you found as far as weather singing helps with walking, improves their ability to walk? Yeah. So people with Parkinson's have degeneration of a part of the brain that affects rhythm. So walking is a rhythmic activity that is affected. And if you give them a song that has a rhythm inside of it, and they already know that song well, then they can just sing it and match their footfalls to the beat of that song, and it can reinstate the rhythm in they're walking. I want to ask a very non-serious question here about shower singing because that's when most of us do it.

17:49According to Spotify and some other sources, some of the most common amateur attempts in the shower include September, Earth, Wind, and Fire.

18:04I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston.

18:12always loving Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen Yell's a boom as a devil put aside for me for me for me Let it go Let it go I am one with the wind and sky Let it go Let it go from Frozen. In your opinion, do you have a recommendation of what I and our listeners should sing in the shower tomorrow morning to get the measurable benefits that you study? Well, what I would typically say to patients is sing whatever you like. Okay. But for me, well, I always grew up singing I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair, which is just because it's such a perfect shower song, and I love musicals. I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair and send him on his way.

19:07Get the picture? Pink Pony Club is really fun and my daughter loves it, so I sing that song quite a bit. Eleanor Harrison is a lecturer in dance at Washington University in St. Louis, and we've been talking to her about singing and the measurable benefits to us that it can bring. Eleanor, thanks so much for the time. Thank you so much. And jazz are on the floor. Love is in the bathroom and a light outside the door. Black lights. And speaking of singing, there was plenty of it at this year's Grammy Awards. It was also an historic night for Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar. The Puerto Rican superstar won Album of the Year, the first for a Spanish-language album.

19:51And Lamar now has more Grammys than any other rapper. We've got a good recap of the night at hereandnow.org.

20:09Here and Now Anytime comes from NPR and WBUR Boston. Today's stories were produced by Lynn Mennegan, Hafsa Qureshi, and Julia Corcoran. Today's editors were Todd Munt, Mikaela Rodriguez, and Kat Welch. Technical direction from Caleb Green and Andre Peralta. Our theme music is by Max Liebman, Mike Moschetto, and Chris Bentley. Our digital producers are Alison Hagen and Grace Griffin, and the executive producer of Here and Now is Alan Price. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.